My Top 10 Asian Movies

10

The Woman in the Septic Tank
Starring	Eugene Domingo
Date Release	July 15, 2011
Country	Philippines
Running Time	96 minutes
Director	Marlon Rivera
Source	www.cinemalaya.org/film_septictank.htm
"Ang Babae sa Septic Tank" chronicles a day in the life of three ambitious, passionate but misguided filmmakers as they set out to do a quick pre-prod at Starbucks, a courtesy call to their lead actress, Eugene Domingo, and an ocular inspection of their film’s major location, the Payatas dumpsite. Director Rainier, Producer Bingbong and Production Assistant Jocelyn are well-to-do, well-educated film school graduates who are dead set on making an Oscar worthy film. They believe they have a winning script, the energy and the drive to make their dreams come true. Like most filmmakers they know, they have devised a screenplay that will show the real essence of our culture: poverty. In the course of one day, they brainstorm and exhaust all possible treatment of their project: the story of Mila (Eugene Domingo), a mother from the slums, who out of desperation to survive, has sold her child to a pedophile. As they discuss the possible executions of the story, the movie-within-a-movie gets reborn in Jocelyn’s imagination several times. As a gritty no frills neo-realist film, as a glossy musical, as an over-the-top melodrama and as a docu drama using non-actors. For their last task of the day, they visit the dumpsite for the first time. As filmmakers gunning for authenticity, they get excited with the ”beauty” of the squalor around them. Soon enough, they are faced with reality as they come face to face with the real effects of their chosen subject. Babae sa Septic Tank is a comedy about misguided ambitions, the art of making art and the romanticization of poverty.

9

Enter The Dragon
Starring	Bruce Lee
Date Release	July 26, 1973
Country	Hong Kong
Running Time	111 minutes
Director	Robert Clouse
Source	http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enter_the_Dragon
Enter the Dragon is a 1973 Hong Kong martial arts co-production with Golden Harvest and Warner Bros. studios, directed by Robert Clouse; starring Bruce Lee, Jim Kelly and John Saxon. This is Bruce Lee's final film appearance before his death on July 20, 1973. Six days after Lee's death, the film was released on July 26, 1973 in Hong Kong. In 2004, Enter the Dragon was deemed "culturally significant" in the United States and selected for preservation in the National Film Registry. Enter the Dragon was the first Chinese martial arts film to have been produced by a major Hollywood studio – Warner Bros. and was produced in association with Golden Harvest and Lee's Concord Production Company. The film is largely set in Hong Kong. Among the stuntmen for the film were members of the Seven Little Fortunes, including Jackie Chan and Sammo Hung. This was arguably instrumental in Chan and Hung's further association with Golden Harvest studios, which later launched their careers. The portly Hung is shown fighting Lee in the opening sequence of the movie and Chan shows up as a henchman when Lee is discovered inside Han's underground lair. The finished version of the film was significantly different from the original screenplay drafts as Bruce Lee revised much of the script himself, including having written and directed the film's opening Shaolin Monastery fight sequence. Lee wanted to use the film as a vehicle for expressing what he saw as the beauty of his Chinese culture, rather than it being just another action film.

8

Old Boy
Starring	Choi Min-sik
Date Release	November 21, 2003
Country	South Korea
Running Time	120 minutes
Director	Park Chan-wook
Source	http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oldboy
Oldboy the phonetic transliteration of "old boy" is a 2003 South Korean film directed by Park Chan-wook. It is based on the Japanese manga of the same name written by Nobuaki Minegishi and Garon Tsuchiya. Oldboy is the second installment of The Vengeance Trilogy, preceded by sympathy for Mr. Vengeance and followed by Sympathy for Lady Vengeance. The film follows the story of one Oh Dae-Su, who is locked in a hotel room for 15 years without knowing his captor's motives. When he is finally released, Dae-su finds himself still trapped in a web of conspiracy and violence. His own quest for vengeance becomes tied in with romance when he falls for an attractive sushi chef. The film won the Grand Prix at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival and high praise from the President of the Jury, director Quentin Tarantino. Critically, the film has been well received in the United States, with an 80% "Certified Fresh" rating at Rotten Tomatoes. Film critic Roger Ebert has claimed Oldboy to be a "...powerful film not because of what it depicts, but because of the depths of the human heart which it strips bare". In 2008, voters on CNN named it one of the ten best Asian films ever made. An American remake is being planned, which will be directed by Spike Lee.

7

Drunken Master
Starring	Jackie Chan
Date Release	October 5, 1978
Country	Hong Kong
Running Time	110 minutes
Director	Yuen Woo-ping
Source	http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drunken_Master
Drunken Master, also known as Drunk Monkey In The Tiger's Eye, is a 1978 Hong Kong martial arts comedy film directed by Yuen Woo-ping, and starring Jackie Chan, Yuen Siu-tien, and Hwang Jang Lee. The film was a success at the Hong Kong box office, earning two and a half times the amount of Chan's previous film, Snake in the Eagle's Shadow, which was also considered a successful film.[1][2] It is an early example of the comedic kung fu style for which Jackie Chan became famous. The film popularised the Zui Quan (醉拳, "drunken fist") fighting movement.

6

Ong-Bak: Muay Thai Warrior
Starring	Tony Jaa
Date Release	January 21, 2003
Country	Thailand
Running Time	105 minutes
Director	Prachya Pinkaew
Source	http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ong-Bak:_Muay_Thai_Warrior
Ong-Bak: Muay Thai Warrior (Thai: องค์บาก [oŋbaːk]), also known in the United States as Ong-Bak: The Thai Warrior is a 2003 Thai action film. It was directed by Prachya Pinkaew, featured stunt choreography by Panna Rittikrai and starred Tony Jaa. Ong-Bak proved to be Jaa's breakout film, with the actor hailed internationally as the next major martial-arts star. Jaa went on to star in Tom-Yum-Goong (called The Protector in the US and Warrior King in the UK) and directed a sequel to Ong-Bak, Ong-Bak 2

5

Kung Fu Hustle
Starring	Stephen Chow
Date Release	September 14, 2004
Country	Hong Kong
Running Time	95 minutes
Director	Stephen Chow
Source	http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kung_Fu_Hustle
Kung Fu Hustle is a 2004 action comedy film directed and produced by, and starring Stephen Chow. The other film producers were Chui Po-chu and Jeffrey Lau, while the screenplay was written by Huo Xin, Chan Man-keung, and Tsang Kan-cheung. Yuen Wah, Yuen Qiu, Danny Chan, and Bruce Leung co-starred in prominent roles. After achieving commercial success with Shaolin Soccer, Columbia Pictures Film Production Asia began to develop Kung Fu Hustle in 2002. Although the film features the return of a number of retired actors famous for 1970s Hong Kong action cinema, it contrasts with other martial arts films released at around the same time that have made the biggest impact in the West, such as Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Hero. The cartoon style of the film, accompanied by traditional Chinese music, is often cited as its most striking feature. The film was released on December 23, 2004 in China and on January 25, 2005 in the United States. It received extremely positive reviews, with Rotten Tomatoes giving it a 90% fresh rating and Metacritic 78 out of 100. The film was also a commercial success, grossing US$17 million in North America and US$84 million in other countries. Kung Fu Hustle was the highest-grossing film in the history of Hong Kong[9] and the tenth highest-grossing foreign language film. It was also the highest-grossing foreign language film in the United States in 2005. Kung Fu Hustle won numerous awards, including Hong Kong Film Awards and Golden Horse Awards.

4

Ring
Starring	Nanako Matsushima
Date Release	January 31, 1998
Country	Japan
Running Time	96 minutes
Director	Hideo Nakata
Source	http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ring_
Ring (リング Ringu?) is a 1998 Japanese horror film by Hideo Nakata, adapted from the Ring novel by Kōji Suzuki, which in turn draws on the Japanese folk tale Banchō Sarayashiki. The film stars Nanako Matsushima, Hiroyuki Sanada, and Rikiya Ōtaka as members of a divorced family. The film was later remade in the United States as The Ring (2002). Ring is about a cursed, disturbing videotape that, when watched, will cause the viewer to die a week after. The film is the highest grossing horror film in Japan at 12 billion yen ($137.7 million) and is also considered the most frightening horror film in Japan according to a survey of Oricon.

3

My Wife Is a Gangster
Starring	Shin Eun-kyung
Date Release	September 27, 2001
Country	South Korea
Running Time	107 minutes
Director	Cho Jin-gyu
Source	http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Wife_Is_a_Gangster
My Wife is a Gangster (조폭 마누라, Jopok Manura) is a 2001 South Korean film directed by Cho Jin-gyu; it's about a female gang boss who needs to get married to fulfill her dying sister's wishes. A sequel, My Wife is a Gangster 2, was released in 2003, with a third (My Wife is a Gangster 3) released at the end of 2006.

2

So Close
Starring	Shu Qi
Date Release	August 22, 2002
Country	Hong Kong
Running Time	110 minutes
Director	Corey Yuen
Source	http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/So_Close
Ai Lin (Shu Qi) and her sister Ai Quan (Zhao Wei) are computer hackers, assassins and espionage specialists who use their late father's secret satellite technology to give them the advantage over their rivals and law enforcement. They first assassinate the chairman of a top Chinese company. After their successful mission, Police Detective named Kong Yat Hung (Karen Mok) is assigned to their case and is able to track them down. The cat-and-mouse chase becomes more complicated when Lin and Ai Quan become the targets of the very people who originally hired them. Ai Quan has always been the assistant at home in the computer, while Ai Lin, the older and better assassin, did the field work. The arrangement made Ai Quan jealous. She just wanted to do field work, but she didn't know that Ai Lin was trying to protect her. She thought Ai Lin refused her more active participation because she was less adept. When Ai Lin fell in love and decided to give up her secret life to marry, the sisters had a falling out. Ai Quan wanted to continue contract killing to prove that she could be as good a killer as her older sister. Yat Hung tracks Ai Quan to a bakery where she is buying birthday cake, which leads to a frantic car chase. Ai Quan is cornered by the police and calls her sister Ai Lin at home, asking for her help. At the same time though, killers, hired by the man who contracted the assassination in the beginning of the film, attack Ai Lin at home and she is killed, with Yat Hung being framed for her death. Ai Quan offers Yat Hung a way to clear her name, but only if she agrees help avenge Ai Lin's death. Left with no choice, Yat Hung teams up with Ai Quan to find the true killer.

1

Sex is Zero
Starring	Lim Chang-jung
Date Release	December 12, 2002
Country	South Korea
Running Time	96 minutes
Director	Yoon Je-kyoon
Source	http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sex_Is_Zero
Sex Is Zero (색즉시공, Saekjeuk shigong) is a 2002 South Korean film written and directed by Yoon Je-kyoon, starring Lim Chang-jung, Ha Ji-won and Yoo Chae-yeong. In the style of American gross-out comedies like American Pie, it follows the exploits of a group of college students, which eventually takes a serious turn. Sex Is Zero sold over four million tickets in South Korea, making it the fifth most popular film of 2002. A sequel, Sex Is Zero 2, was released in December 2007, starring most of the original cast.